Norfolk and Waveney restaurants claim £5m back on Eat Out to Help Out
The last day of the Eat Out To Help Out scheme in Norwich sees queues outside some places Byline: Sonya Duncan(C) Archant 2020 - Credit: Sonya Duncan
Norfolk and Waveney restaurants have claimed more than £5m back from the government thanks to the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
The last day of the Eat Out To Help Out scheme in Norwich sees queues outside some places Byline: Sonya Duncan (C) Archant 2020 - Credit: Sonya Duncan
Across August more than 1,000 restaurants offered the scheme, which saw people given 50pc off their meal up to £10 a head.
The move was made by chancellor Rishi Sunak in a bid to save millions of jobs in the hospitality sector.
Those in north Norfolk made the most of the scheme with 203,000 meals being a split-bill with number 11.
MORE: Restaurant served 5,000 people during Eat Out to Help OutThe average discount per meal was also below the £10 threshold – with the average at about £5.63 per meal.
The scheme has been called a “big success” by some of Norfolk’s biggest employers in the visitor attraction industry.
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Nick Attfield, director of properties at Adnams, which has hotels, restaurants and shops across the region as well as a brewery, said: “As far as I’m concerned, it’s been a big success for us.
“I think it’s been enormously enjoyed by all of our customers – certainly at the beginning of the scheme, people weren’t expecting it but were delighted to get it.”
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Adnams, which owns pubs including the White Horse at Blakeney, and the Five Bells at Wrentham, said that people were also spending more.
Mr Attfield said: “What we found is that it encouraged people to have a little bit more or to have something more expensive from the menu.
“People might have an extra bottle of wine or they’d have three courses instead of two courses.
“It was a great short-term stimulus.”
And as well as prompting people to put their hands in their pockets in holiday destinations, people were also spending more in cities.
Across Norwich more than a million pounds was claimed back by the 214 businesses who signed up for the scheme.
Anthea McNamara, owner of Logans Sandwich shop in the Lanes, said the scheme helped offset the impact of revenue lost due to social distancing: “We had to reduce the amount of tables we had and it helped us keep all of them full, which has been a bonus. Having said that it is busy on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.”
